Although we've all heard about 'the death of print', there's still something to be said for rifling through paper on the bus home, and Im not just talking about the London Paper. This year is the 40th birthday of the original London print bible Time Out. To celebrate the big four-o, the Museum of London is hosting a new exhibition which opens today featuring some of the most iconic covers.
Founder Tony Elliot began Time Out when his Aunt gave him £70 for his 21st birthday, using the cash to print up 5,000 copies on double-sided A2 sheets. Although in todays internet age, where were used to getting our news for nowt, shelling out £3 seems a little steep but you've got to give the guys at TO props for their global legacy, big style back in the day, and for sticking all their content online for free! (Apparently its had minimal effect on their print sales)
In an article on the exhibition in yesterday's Media Guardian former TO editor ('92-'99) Dominic Wells reflects on his time at the publication and the playful cover antics. From 'crucifying the trip-hop musician Tricky for Easter to hiring a Routemaster bus to ferry the Beautiful South around London, Summer Holiday-style.' He also talks about how different things are now 'The media landscape is much changed now. Everywhere has become more professional, more safe, more scared.'
This last bit made me sigh. As young media wannabe's have we missed the real party? Or does the revolution in citizen media mean we all get a go, just without getting paid to do it?( if we want to be really creative about it that is) You could say that todays bloggers embody the same spirit of resourcefulness and independence that Elliot did back when he first started Time Out. In a PR dominated culture has so much mainstream journalism become mere hype that leaves little space for comment and experiment? In reality it's probably not that black and white, but for our sake lets hope it still an exciting time to be earning a living from creating 'independent' media whatever the format, print, web or tv.
If like me you'e too lazy to go to the museum go here instead:
http://timeoutcovers.blogspot.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/aug/11/pressandpublishing2
taken from www.soul2soul.co.uk
These are 2 pages from the best comic (sorry, graphic novel) ever. The first page reads 'Far away in space and time there lived a race without fear, living with complete happiness in a land of peace and plenty. This land was Ard and it's capital is Kanudiggus'. Despite this literary masterpiece by UK legends Soul2Soul and many more of truer credibility there are still some doubters.
People who write books have always looked down on people who draw them. Treating them like they are an inferior race of storytellers colouring in all the time and generally undermining their own word writing, sentence forming, grammar bound endeavours. Completely not impressed with the combination of words and pictures unless they are by Dahl and Blake (The illustrated version of the BFG is sick!) Maybe it's to much for book heads who feel like a venture into graphic novels is a step closer to television.
Where as the likes of Richard & Judy & Orange offer bucket loads of cash and prime time plugging spots for first time book writers looking for a break, The Observer is offering a paltry grand, along with the publication of your graphic story spread across 2 pages for all you picture makers.
However if graphic novels are your thing you would probably recognise the names of the people on the judging panel and forget about the comparatively low reward and try and impress them with your best words and pictures.
Find out more at http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/
Mapping Sheffield
Sounds of the Suburbs
'For some reason I was looking through an A-Z. I realised that the area which had been my world from birth till say 17,18, fitted into the double page spread of the A-Z. It was quite a small enclosed space but it seemed rich and interesting to me.'
For the past week at Midnight BBC 6 has been airing Jarvis Cocker's Musical Map of Sheffield as part of their 'Play It Again' series. Even if you're not a nostalgic Pulp fan it's a great late night listen, taking you through an evocative journey through his hometown, and childhood in the 60's and 70's 'City Of Steel'.
It reminded me of another musical mapping escapade, John Peels 'Sound Of The Suburbs'. TV too had a sense of adventure back then.
Listen to Musical Maps:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00cttxn
The rhyme slinger v the left winger. who deserves the hype?
Was Michael Ostrog Jack the Ripper?
Illustrated circular 1884 suspects No.10 Michael Ostrog
New Era V YesNoMaybe
On your way to the Museum in Dockland's to see a new exibition charting the biggest name in London crime history, the people behind the sensational news reports, the woman who he targeted and the potential suspects who could have been the Victorian East End Slayer why not pick up one of these YesNoMaybe Hats in collaboration with New Era.
Seamless links!
http://www.yesnomaybe.co.uk/products.aspx
Back in the day Google was considered 'one of us' for those in the know, with its quirky name, loveable font play and simple searching steez. Now its become the 'them' in an 'Us and Them', Google having officially joined the Evil club up there with the likes of Microsoft and Coca Cola.
The latest in the 'Google is Evil' conspiracy are the Google Street Cars, which drive round photographingevery inch of the country for the new facility Street View. Although the cars have been around in the US for over a year they only got passed the Privacy Watchdog in the UK last week meaning you are likely to spot one near you soon.
The cars are not helped by the fact that they look like they have been dropped out the set of 'Men In Black', Nazi street submarines, their almost blacked out windows making them look all creepy and driverless. Enough to make me wanna ditch G Mail? Nah...never.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/15/google_spycar_map/
Olympic poster 1948 on show at the V&A museum of Childhood
BBC Olympic ident 2008 by Jamie Hewlett
Old Monkey TV show opener
The Olympics is coming, the greatest sporting event in the world bar the Champions League is upon us and the BBC are pulling out all the stops by incorporating the Chinese's creation story into their adverts. Made by the Gorillaz after their foray into opera with Monkey: Journey to the West it's nice to see the BBC spending our licence fees wisely but it still doesn't beat the old budget TV show version, intro featured above.
If it's all a bit to modern or moving image for you and are looking for a pre-olympic fix, check out the V & A Museum of childhood E2 for an exibition featuring loads of Olympic posters charting the history of the games and their eras through design.
Errors - Toes
This video ticks all the right boxes, a grimey little ned on horseback looking like a high rise William wallace, kids in Le Coq Sportif tracksuits with bows and arrows and a giant wooden horse being carted through a Glasgow warzone all set to a stomping tune that makes me wanna revert to being 14 and on summer holiday, throwing stones at glass left in derelict buildings, kissing girls that taste like cigarettes and cider and daydreaming about what I'm gonna do when i grow up.
If God and the Devil got bored of pulling the strings in Heaven and Hell respectively and wanted to unite and live an incognito life here on earth they would probably end up looking like these two.
Pic by Rachel Barrett
Rachel Barrett in my dreams
what i would wear on our first date
A slowjam dedicated to my queen Rachel
I'm in love, last night in my sleep Rachel Barrett came to me in my dreams dressed in gold with a handful of Ferrero Roches.Rachel Barrett is some girl from New York who goes round taking snaps of newsstands, a little like your London boy Sweetboy. Although i would like to point out that i get up a little closer and am more into the man behind the counter than the counter itself.
Anyways, she takes a good picture and her subject matter is a visual treat. Since i found her, mans can't stop thinking about her, Sweetboy has officially got his first crush. Yo i've even been thinking about what I'm gonna rock on our first date. Man's so into her, I ain't even got a review for you this time. Just a (U.S) sweetshop & a slowjam.
check the link for more from my queen;
http://www.rachelbarrett.net/
'Sanctuary' was produced and directed by Lovejit K Daliwal in collaboration with 'Marjorie', whose real life story is the basis for this short. The film speaks for itself really.
Well worth 3 minutes of your Monday.
Coming at this a little late in the game this campaign was
announced last month in the US but better late than never.
3 reasons why its worth a look.
.
No 1. THE SICK GRAPHICS
It looks cool like all Nike things do. And you don't even know its
Nike cos like nothing else ever made by Nike its all tick free.
Infact, its the Nike Foundation. They have just pledged to invest
a whopping 100 Million pounds to start up The Girl effect, which
aims to support education for girls in the developing world.
.
No 2. THE FACTS
'When girls and women in the developing world earn income, they
reinvest 90% of it into their families, as compared to only
30-40% for a man. The key to getting this income is Education.
Educated girls grow into educated women, who — research shows
— have healthier babies and are more likely to educate their children.
When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of
education, she marries four years later, and has 2.2 fewer children.'
.
No 3. THE CONTRADICTIONS are obvious but no matter how many
criticisms you could level at them the reality is this campaign
will make a difference. Got to be more than a (big money) cynical
marketing ploy and more an example of a brand using their power
to mobilise a movement of good?
What Is annoying is the way Nike make it look so damn easy. So
slick. There are probably hundreds of small organisations struggling
to raise funds to do similar things and no one knows about it or how
to donate to them. Big company does big ad campaign big profit and
big charity. It makes perfect sense, right?
.
http://www.girleffect.org/
http://www.nikefoundation.org/
The proprietor Paul
The oldest building in Bethnal Green is a cushion and foam
shop owned by Paul the flyest shopkeeper in east London.
As well as being a dapper sod he also gives good deals if
you ever need some extra comfort on your mattress.
.
Pauls been there 40 years and deserves to go in the Fly
Files for keeping up his game. Even the trendy invasion
of Bethnal Green can't dislodge him from being the king pin
of style in this towns east end.
Britdoc Fest, the UKs leading Documentary Festival kicks off
today at Keeble College, Oxford. With masterclasses and
pitching forums galore punters have the opportunity to win
pots of money for their films from Google Current and The
Britdoc Foundation, among others.
This years must see screening at the festival is James Marshes
'Man On Wire', which tells the story of Phillip Petits tight rope walk
accross the World Trade Towers back in 1974. Plain insane or
insanely inspiring? Probably both.
http://www.manonwire.com/
https://www.britdoc.org/festival/Welcome
F.E.D.S.
Finally Every Dimension of the Streets or F.E.D.S magazine is
perhaps the ultimate toilet read. It's a crime magazine featuring
interviews with some of the most notorious gangsters the U.S has
bred. From heroin dealers to stick up boys to master smugglers
to straight up no nonsense gang bangers past and present.
.
At first glance it may seem like a publication that glamorises a
certain lifestyle and maybe it does for a certain type of reader
but the interviews are informative and thorough. Although they
provide "street" stories that are less than savoury they also
act as precautionary tales of how a misspent youth and wrong
desicions can result in a life that is far from the glamourous
perception of how gangsters live.
.
It's just baffling that a publication like this can make it on to the
shelves of New York newsstands. Obviously confronted by a
shortage of legitimate advertisers that want to be associated with
the content in the magazine, F.E.D.S has taken it upon itself to make
there own. You gotta see it to believe it. For example they have
an add for a postal service for prisoners where big booty ladies
write blue letters to inmates.
.
It's one of those things that can only happen in the states, imagine
a British version crime-zine with interviews with Oxford Street
pick pockets, knife wielding yoots and fake Big Issue sellers.
.
5 big wipes out of 5, reguardless of the social implications.
See more at http://www.myspace.com/fedsmagazine
This happens every saturday.
.
Do I stay home and make something, like some little models,
or film a house plant, or do some drawings or even collages
out of anything i can find round the house, film it with
some ghetto lighting and put it on my computer where i can
fuck around with it even more, adding layers of images and
video clips i have cluttering up my desk top, maybe add one
of them scratchy little beats i have on garage band and edit
it all together
.
or
.
Do i go out and party with a video camera and some big booty
lesbians in a dark club where all i can see is smoke and
everyones hype to see me.
On a more positive note from the last post, our fair city has
officially the best tap water in the country. As part of the
Drinking Water Inspectorate's annual report into the quality
of water across the UK, London came out on top with it's
tap water scoring highest.
.
So get into the corporation pop and stop carrying round your
poncey little mineral water like some smug health idiot. If your
really worried that tap water is gonna ruin your street cred then
follow this link to a product that could help you out.
http://www.nigelsecostore.com/acatalog/Tap_Water.html#aTAP
So Nike have withdrawn the Air Stab from their shelves
amidst accusations that the name of the shoe was in some
way glamorising the knife epidemic sweeping through
London Town.
.
Maybe if it was called the Air Shank it's critics would have
a leg to stand on. What's next? Cooking shows banned from
London telly for promoting the use of sharp knives? Bobby
Darin's Mack the Knife being eternally barred from karaoke
machines? Or untold amounts of films to censor and about
every grime record ever made?
What's ironic is by this happening the Air Stab will undoubtedly
become more collectible. Watch out for Ebay price increases
True romance in 'Little Platform, Big Stage'
Cab Shelters: Remnants of old London today
As part of the Arena documentary strand BBC4 will be
screening a trilogy of films which celebrate the London
Transport System 'Little Platform Big Stage', watchable
above, 'Underground', and the most recently completed
'Cab Driver'.'Cab Driver', will be shown for the first time
at the London Transport Musuem tomorrow night. For
the duration of the the film the viewer becomes an
eavesdropper at Russell Square cabman's shelter, one the first
shelters still standing since Victorian times. We are privy to
the stories of five extraordinary cabbies, whose experience
spans 70 years driving, and their lives, including one Len Fox
who, after 20 years on the job, 'found himself in a group
therapy session just off the M1, recounting his hatred for
the nine million Londoners he served.'
Sorry for the crap tip Len. But don't get all Travis Bickle on us.
.
Watch these on your old skool tv screen:
Little Platform Big Stage : Saturday 19th 9pm BBC 4
Cab Driver : Saturday 26th 9pm BBC 4
Underground : Saturday 2nd August 9pm BBC 4
.
Watch Cab Driver on the big screen and meet its star,
Len Fox at London Transport Museum,
Friday 18 July - 19.00 to 20.30 Admission: £7.50
(tickets include free entry to the Museum galleries from 17.00)
http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/131.aspx
